COUGAR SPORTS THIS WEEK: Listen to "Cougar Sports This Week" hosted by Bud Nameck...WSU head coach Paul Graham will be on live from Zeppoz in Pullman from 6-7 p.m. every Tuesday through March 13...all other shows will take place Tuesday...the show can be heard over the Cougar Sports Radio Network...if you would like to call the show, dial toll free at 1-866-COUGTALK (1-866-268-4825).

100TH SEASON: The Cougars 2000-01 campaign is the 100th in WSU men's basketball history...the Cougars played their first game December 7, 1901 against the Spokane YMCA in Spokane...the game resulted in a 31-0 loss...the only other game during that first
season was also against the Spokane YMCA, a 24-16 setback February 17, 1902 in Pullman...The following season, WSU earned its first win in school history with an 18-13 triumph over the Spokane YMCA in the season opener, December 13, 1902 in Pullman.

SACRAMENTO STATE PREVIEW: The Hornets play San Jose State Wednesday at Arco Arena in Sacramento, Calif., before playing in Pullman Saturday...Sacramento State has lost five straight entering the week...the average margin of defeat during the losing streak is 20.4...two of the losses suffered by the Hornets were to Colorado State (73-46, November 28) and Portland (75-55, December 16) in Sacramento State's most recent outing...both Colorado State and Portland have defeated WSU this season...the Hornets have had four players score in double figures in each of the three games and had five players accomplish the feat in the season opener.

THE SERIES WITH THE HORNETS: Saturday's meeting will be the first between Sacramento State and Washington State since January 4, 1993 when WSU posted an 87-56 win in Pullman...the most recent meeting marked the third straight year the two schools met in Pullman with the Cougars winning all three games...the average margin of victory in those games was 33.7...WSU also won 90-70 in Pullman December 6, 1976...the Hornets only win (45-44) in the series occurred December 17, 1953 in Sacramento.

UTES RUN PAST COUGARS: Utah used a 22-4 run over a span of 5:30 in the first half to cruise to an 87-63 win over Washington State in Salt Lake City, Utah December 16...Washington State saw its two-game winning streak snapped and was held to a season low 35 percent shooting from the field. Conversely, the Cougars gave up a season high 61 percent to Utah...Washington State was led by 17 points from senior Eddie Miller (Reseda, Calif.) and 14 from freshman Marcus Moore (Inglewood, Calif.)...the Cougars hurt themselves with a series of droughts. Washington State win 6:15 without a field goal in the first half, most of which occurred during the 22-4 run by the Utes...after a Miller jumper cut the Utah lead to 51-34 with 17:47 remaining in the game, WSU went another 6:17 without a field goal. Following a Jerry McNair (Torrance, Calif.) three-pointer with 10:49 to play, the Cougars went another 8:15 without a bucket from the field...both teams did earn points at the foul line in what was an extremely physical game...the teams combined for 57 fouls and 80 free throw attempts...WSU connected on 22-of-32 from the line while Utah made 39-of-48 attempts...the 24-point loss was the worst for the Cougars in a nonconference game since a 91-67 defeat at Idaho State, December 17, 1983.

MOORE IS BETTER: Freshman Marcus Moore (Inglewood, Calif.) scored a season-high 25 points to lead Washington State to a 67-54 win over Montana, December 12...the 25 points were the most by a Cougar freshman since Isaac Fontaine poured in 33 against Michigan State, November 27, 1993...the six steals set a WSU freshman record...senior Eddie Miller (Reseda, Calif) and sophomore David Adams (Tacoma) added 12 and 10 points, respectively...the Cougars trailed 36-35 at the half before opening the second half on a 12-0 run to take a lead they would never relinquish. Moore keyed the run with six points...the Grizzlies responded with a 12-2 run to close to within 49-48 at the 10:35 mark. Moore increased the WSU lead to 52-48 on a trey with 10:08 to play...after Montana cut its deficit to 52-50, WSU outscored the Grizzlies 15-4 over the final 9:44 to post the 13-point win.

TEAM EFFORT LEADS COUGS TO WIN OVER FIGHTING HAWKS: Senior Eddie Miller (Reseda, Calif.) led five Washington State players in double figure scoring with a game-high 15 at the Cougars defeated Maryland-Eastern Shore 80-54, December 9...sophomore Milton Riley (Gardena, Calif.) added a career-high 13 points off the bench, including a three-point play that aided a 10-0 first half run, giving the Cougars a 14-4 lead...junior J Locklier (Rock Hill, S.C.) tallied six of the Cougars (3-2) first eight points and finished with a dozen..sophomore Jerry McNair (Torrance, Calif.) also registered 12 points and sophomore David Adams (Tacoma) added 10...the five players in double figures marked the first time WSU accomplished the feat since a 91-78 win over Central Washington to open the 1998-99 campaign...the Cougars led 16-14 with just 6:24 remaining in the first half before Adams scored five straight WSU points to ignite a 16-3 run to close the half
with a 32-17 lead...WSU put the game away early in the second half with a pair of 7-0 runs to open a 51-29 lead with 13:09 remaining.

TURNOVERS COSTLY IN LOSS TO PORTLAND: Portland took advantage of a season-high 25 turnovers by Washington State to post a 70-66 victory over the Cougars, December 5..the win was the first by the Pilots over a Pacific-10 school since defeating Oregon State during the 1995-96 season...four Cougars scored in double figures, led by junior J Locklier's (Rock Hill, S.C.) season-high 18 points. Locklier tied Portland's Philip Dejworek and Carmie Olowoyo for game-high honors...Locklier's fellow newcomers, freshman Marcus Moore (Inglewood, Calif.), 12 points, junior Framecio Little (Anderson, S.C.), 11 points, and sophomore Jerry McNair (Torrance, Calif.), 10 points also tallied double figures...Little and Locklier both narrowly missed double-doubles with nine and eight rebounds, respectively...the Pilots raced out to a 15-3 lead and led by as many as 15 points in the first half, before taking a 34-25 advantage into intermission. Portland forced 16 first half turnovers by the Cougars...Tim Frost scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half for the Pilots while Locklier registered 10 points in the first stanza...Portland increased its lead to 40-27 with 17:21 to play before the Cougars responded with a 13-0 run to pull even at 40-all at the 14:01 mark. Locklier and Little each had four points during the spurt...after the Pilots took a 45-42 advantage, senior Cedric Clark (Birmingham, Ala.) drilled a trey with 11:42 left to tie the game 45-45...it was the last time the Cougars were even in the game...for the next six minutes, the Cougars recorded only one field goal before Locklier drew WSU to within one at 55-54 with a bucket at the 5:17 mark...however, the Pilots responded with an 8-1 run to build the lead to 63-55 with 3:30 remaining. WSU closed to 66-63 on layups by Locklier and Moore, but Portland connected on 4-of-4 free throws in the final 28 seconds to seal the win.

McNAIR SHOOTS DOWN VANDALS: Sophomore Jerry McNair (Torrance, Calif.) knocked down eight three-pointers to account for a game-high 24 points as Washington State defeated Idaho 74-57 November 29...McNair's eight treys were one short of the school record by Bennie Seltzer in 1993 and equaled by Chris Crosby in 1998...Framecio Little (Anderson, S.C.) scored the game's first points with jumper a little less than a minute after tip-off and the Cougars never trailed on the night...the Cougars led 20-15 with 11:31 before going on a 13-0 run over a span of 4:59 to open up an 18-point lead at 33-15...junior J Locklier (Rock Hill, S.C.) started the spurt with a layup and a pair of free throws...Little, senior Edde Miller (Reseda, Calif) and McNair followed with three-pointers to cap the run...the Vandals managed to cut the deficit to nine on two occasions prior to intermission, but a pair of free throw by David Adams (Tacoma) with 0.7 seconds left in the half gave WSU a 41-30 halftime advantage...the second half started slowly for both teams as neither team scored for over two minutes...McNair drilled a three-pointer to provide the Cougars with their first field goal of the half with 15:15 remaining...the basket put WSU on top 46-34 and Idaho never got closer than 11 the rest of the game...joining McNair in double figure scoring for the Cougars were Adams and Little with 11 and10, respectively...Locklier just missed a double-double for WSU with nine points and nine rebounds and Miller added eight points and six rebounds.

YOUNG COUGS FALL TO EXPERIENCE RAMS: Senior Ron Grady poured in a game-high 25 points to lead Colorado State to a 78-64 victory over Washington State at the Spokane Arena, November 25...the Rams outscored the Cougars 13-5 over the final 6:40 and held Washington State without a field goal during that span...Colorado State sealed the win by connecting on 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch...for the game, the Rams were 19-of-27 from the line while the Cougars were 17-of-29...Colorado State also held a decisive edge on the boards, outrebounding WSU 39-25...Washington State led 29-24 before Colorado State closed the first half on a 10-2 run to lead 34-31 at intermission...the Cougars opened the second half with four points to reassume the lead 35-34 with 17:42 remaining...sophomore David Adams (Tacoma, Wash.) brought WSU within one on a jumper and a layup by junior Framecio Little (Anderson, S.C.) gave the Cougars the one point advantage...the game remained close until the Rams reeled off six straight points to take a 54-46 lead with 11:49 left...a three pointer by Adams followed by a steal and thunder dunk from sophomore Milton Riley
(Gardena, Calif.) narrowed the gap to 54-51 with 11:07 remaining, but the Cougars could get no closer...senior Eddie Miller (Reseda, Calif.) led WSU with 17 points...freshman Marcus Moore (Inglewood, Calif.) added 14 points and five assists and Adams chipped in with 11 points.

WSU OPENS SEASON WITH IMPRESSIVE WIN: Sophomore David Adams (Tacoma) scored a game-high 19 points, one shy of his career high to lead Washington State to an 83-55 victory over Portland State, November 20...sophomore Jerry McNair (Torrance, Calif.) added a dozen points and fellow newcomer junior Framecio Little (Anderson, S.C.) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds...the Cougars were tied with the Vikings at 13-all with 12:13 left in the first half before closing the stanza with a 24-12 run to lead 37-25 at intermission...Adams and junior J Locklier (Rock Hill, S.C.) each had eight points in the first half and sophomore Milton Riley (Gardena, Calif.) chipped in five points, four rebounds and three steals in 11 minutes off the bench...Riley was pressed into early action because starting senior forward Eddie Miller (Reseda, Calif.) committed two fouls just 1:48 into the game...the season opening win was quite a turnaround from last year's opening game loss, 80-55 at Nevada.

FRESH FACES: Eight players who have seen action this season are in their first year with the Cougars ...those eight players have accounted for 59.0 percent of WSU's scoring, 53.2 percent of the team's rebounding and 63.4 percent of the Cougars' assists...freshman Marcus Moore (Inglewood, Calif.) leads WSU with 12.3 points per game...juniors J Locklier (Rock Hill, S.C.) and Framecio Little (Anderson, S.C.) rank 1-2 for the Cougars with 5.6 and 5.4 rebounds per game, respectively...Moore leads WSU with 3.3 assists per game...newcomers also account for 72.7 percent of the team's blocked shots, led by Locklier's six and 55.0 percent of WSU's steals, including Moore's WSU freshman record six in the win over Montana, December 12...the newest Cougars are shooting 40.7 percent from three-point range...McNair leads all WSU players with a 45.5 percent mark from beyond the arc.

HOME SWEET HOME: The win over Portland State was the 13th straight for the Cougars in a home opener...The last time WSU lost its home opener was during the 1987-88 season when the Cougars were defeated by BYU 60-54...WSU is now 16-0 all-time at Friel Court in the month of November...in addition, the Cougars are 19-1 at home in games played in Pullman in November...the only blemish is a 77-47 loss to Colorado State November 30, 1962 in the season-opener.